Dear Frankie

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Wise and wondrous.

USA Today Claudia Puig

An endearing, occasionally sentimental story told with depth and substance.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The bold long shot near the end of Dear Frankie allows the film to move straight as an arrow toward its emotional truth, without a single word or plot manipulation to distract us.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Subtle and graceful directorial debut.

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

The movie is filled with small moments of tenderness, insight and considerable wisdom.

Variety David Rooney

Material that might have turned to standard dysfunctional family treacle in other hands is given stirring poignancy, warmth and emotional insight in Shona Auerbach's assured first feature.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

What could have been a sentimental train wreck emerges as a funny and touching portrait of three bruised people.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

It is a sweet, wonderfully acted cameo of a movie about the lengths to which a lioness will go to protect her cub.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The movie's still shameless; the difference is you don't mind.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Very well crafted and superbly acted. Whatever you may think of the idea, its execution is admirable.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

For anyone who has ever had to balance what the heart yearns for against what the head insists must be, this film should hit home.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The movie has been shot with love and wisdom, and its implausible premise doesn't get in the way of a sweetness and honesty too rarely seen.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

Dear Frankie is a small movie with a big soul and no easy formula for the happiness of its big-hearted characters.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

But as the story takes some surprising turns, it works like a slow infection: Patient audience members may find themselves awakening to the story in much the same way the characters awaken to their own capacities for tenderness.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Doesn't revert to hairpin plot twists or other dramatic trickery to hook us in; Auerbach simply lets us live with her characters-which, it turns out, is reward enough.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

The film, with its painterly juxtapositions of dockside industry, green hills, and cloud-scudded sky, is full of misguided motives and fairy-tale fraud. But it rings true at heart.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

The film tugs at us. And we forgive it its faults because it never loses sight of what it's supposed to be even though the story has a manipulative edge and maneuvers our feelings.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Within this overly familiar trope, there's plenty of room for small surprises, not the least of which are delightful, understated performances all around.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

"Miramax porn." The term refers to manipulative tearjerkers like Dear Frankie whose sensitive performances, along with a light dusting of grit, allow them to be marketed as art films. This one is clever enough to fool a lot of people.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Mortimer is riveting as the sympathetic but flawed Lizzie.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

On its own terms, Dear Frankie works much better than it really has any right to. Auerbach tells a small, contrived story, but gives it the weight of life.

Film Threat Ross Williams

While the film isn’t completely perfect, director and cinematographer Shona Auerbach shows that she’s a great new filmmaking talent.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The end result is an unremarkable, unmemorable movie that deserves neither praise nor approbation.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The film is soft and sticky, but it deserves a (small) audience. If you're in that peculiar kind of blue mood where you'd like to be just a bit bluer, Dear Frankie might be the right choice.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Dear Frankie's surprises are few and low-key, but the story wraps up nicely.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

Happily, the director and writer Andrea Gibb treat little Frankie with as much dramatic respect as the grown-up characters, and he saves the movie from killing sweetness.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Well acted, capably directed, not as substantial as it might have been.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

The movie’s glib trafficking in illness, death and pinched little faces to jury-rig our emotional responses (Gibb was inspired by the equally likable, equally pandering Czech film "Kolya") lost me at hello.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

I’m all for ambiguity, but Dear Frankie’s multiple dangling threads indicate incoherent storytelling, not profundity.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Somehow the U.K. film industry can always scrounge enough loose change from the cushions to foot the bill for a pre-chewed lump of sickly saltwater taffy like the mawkish Scottish-seaside postcard Dear Frankie.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

A Scottish weepie of such bathos and balderdash that it deserves a drinking game in its rotten honor.